Month: March 2015

“What does the financially confident woman look like? Well, I’d say she is much more economically literate than ever before, and not just a “caretaker” of somebody else’s money<….> she is fiscally confident and it shows in her investment knowledge, salary, performance bonus and stock options.” The Future of Women in Finance, 2015. Right before International Women’s Day Nordnet gladly presented the business-minded women of Stockholm some valuable insight. Nordnet, which provides brokerage and banking services in Scandinavia, invited Barbara Stewart, Partner and Portfolio Manager at Cumberland Private Wealth Management and a researcher, to present her latest white paper The Future of Women in Finance. Barbara started her research five years ago. (Last year Life as an Investment published an article about Barbara’s research How does smart women invest in 2013?) Ultimately, she was not satisfied with how the media portrayed women in finance. Everything she read was negative, and in contradiction with her experience as a portfolio manager. Then Barbara decided to nix negativity and focus on the positive. The Future of Women in …

Sooner or later all startups need funding, and cash is the fuel to get it driving in the right direction. But where will that cash come from? There are a lot of variants involved—such as size, age and industry in which the startup will operate. These elements as well as desired growth expectations will need to be defined before pinpointing and attaining financial resources. For those who are in the beginning phase (seed phase), finding the right partnership with an investor is crucial. A solid and trustworthy partnership with an investor takes time and effort. Again, it’s a b**** because you need to minimize failures and maximize successes. You need to know HOW to choose your target group of possible investors. Ok, you are at the beginning of making your business a reality. You have a clear picture of how it’s supposed to work….and maybe you have already developed the product (or service). And now you need the fuel. The best investors are actually 1. Your clients! Make your clients pay you first, explains Anna Söderblom, …

Life as an Investment has asked Anastasiia Linnas – a finance and marketing consultant, start-up lover and blogger, to be our guest author and introduce our dear readers to Three Hottest Estonian Start-ups… We wrongly supposed that there are only three… When I was asked to write an article about three Estonian start-ups, I was a bit puzzled, because straightaway I could name 33* of them (my Mac actually froze after opening their home pages). During the last 10 years, Estonia has managed to build a strong matrix of start-ups. And, the most significant contributor to this system is probably Skype. Today, the most successful start-ups in Estonia are founded by the so-called “Skype Mafia.” So, I did my best to come up with a list of three that IMHO, fit into the Life as an Investment philosophy. Save! TransferWise is one of the most well-known start-ups that originated in Estonia and is often a guest on TechCrunch news, a popular digital information source providing PR strategies and a wide range of general news. I don’t know about your …

– Run! Run faster than the wind! – It’s a nice phrase, but a triathlete in the middle of a bike-to-run transition will probably punch you in a face if you yell that out loud! After so many kilometers on a bike, the legs just don’t move the way they should after hopping off the bike. But they are hard as stone….and only want to rest. Running gear plays a massive role in this process! Triathletes normally use extra-light running shoes like ZOOT—probably the best triathlete gear in the world. They also uses Asics, but I find them to be hard on the legs, a bit heavier and quite narrow. I have a pair of Asics gel – Tri Noosa 9, but I can’t say that I really like them. For the coming season, I’m willing to try those Swiss engineered Cloudracers. The prices for quality running shoes don’t vary much—basically $100 to $250 on the average. Here’s a tip: choosing the right running shoe for a triathlon should depend on distance and the framework of …